THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407140627
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
A 35-year-old Grafton woman found outside a Hampton hospital Monday told police she was kidnapped by three men on I-664, beaten, sexually assaulted and locked in a small room for more than a day.
The woman said she was driving home from work in Suffolk at 2:15 a.m. Sunday when she stopped just south of the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel because her car felt wobbly.
When she got out of the car, the men grabbed her, threw her in the back seat and drove her car to a house, perhaps on the Peninsula, she told police.
The men kept her locked up for about a day, occasionally slapping her or yelling at her. Then they took her to a wooded area, sexually assaulted her and left her in a nearby ditch.
A passerby spotted the woman and drove her to Hampton General Hospital.
Hospital workers found her collapsed Monday morning and treated her in the emergency room for numerous cuts and bruises.
Police found her white 1988 Ford Mustang Tuesday in Hampton, and were searching it for clues.
The men apparently had been walking on the highway when they approached the woman, police said.
``She's very distraught,'' said Suffolk Detective D.J. Greene. ``We'll learn more when we can sit down with her for awhile.''
The woman, whose name was not released by police, recently moved to Virginia from New Jersey and was unable to identify where the men had taken her, police said. She could not describe her attackers or the man who drove her to the hospital.
Detectives had no suspects Wednesday and said they plan to take the woman to areas of Hampton and Newport News, hoping she will recognize something.
Greene said police are searching for the man who drove the woman to the hospital, in hopes that he might provide clues.
KEYWORDS: SEX CRIME ASSAULT KIDNAP
by CNB